Toronto Tours

Walking Tours
Walking tours of Toronto are available with A Taste of the World (tel: (416) 923 6813; website: www.torontowalksbikes.com). True to its name, the company offers the ‘Kensington Foodies Roots Walk', a three hour 30 minute stroll through historic Kensington Market, sampling both the sights and the local delicacies. Tours are frequently sold out - advance reservation is recommended.

Genova Tours (tel: (416) 367 0380; website: www.genovatours.com) offers a variety of year-round Toronto walking tours that cover all kinds of interests - food in St Lawrence Market, Chinatown and Little India; history at the Mount Pleasant and Necropolis Cemeteries; and star-gazing in the neighbourhoods of Yorkville and Millionaire's Row.

Ebullient tour guide Bruce Bell, the official historian of the St Lawrence Market, offers walking tours of that site and many other historic locations through Bruce Bell Tours (tel: (647) 393 8687; website: www.brucebelltours.ca).

Guided tours of the city's natural heritage are available from Toronto Field Naturalists (tel: (416) 593 2656; website: www.torontofieldnaturalists.org).

There are also a variety of signposted, self-guided walks that wind through the city's many parks and green spaces. Alternatively, visitors have the option of exploring the vast labyrinth of interconnected shopping areas that underlie downtown's office towers. The 27km (16-mile) PATH network (website: www.toronto.ca/path) links shopping, services and entertainment venues between the two branches of the Yonge-University-Spadina subway, south of Dundas Street.

Boat Tours
A boat tour of the harbour is a nice sightseeing experience. Toronto Tours (tel: (416) 869 1372; website: www.torontotours.com) offers one-hour cruises of the inner harbour and out to the Toronto Islands, April to October.

Bus Tours
Grayline Tours (tel: (416) 594 3310; website: www.grayline.com) runs hop-on, hop-off tours of the city centre in open-topped double-decker buses. A full circuit lasts two hours. The best places for passengers to hop on board are 123 Front Street West (corner of University Avenue) and the corner of Yonge Street and Dundas Street (visitors should call ahead, seeing as the company recommends booking at least 48 hours in advance).

Toronto Hippo Tours (tel: (416) 703 4476 or 1 877 635 5510; website: www.torontohippotours.com) offers an ‘amphibus' (amphibious bus) from May to October. Departing from 151 Front Street West (corner of Simcoe Street), the one-hour tour of the city takes in the CN Tower, the Rogers Centre and Toronto City Hall before entering the water at Ontario Place for an additional half-hour tour around Toronto's harbour.